MSP thanks North East community

French born MSP Christian Allard thanked the North East community for its show of solidarity with the victims of the Paris shootings last week.

Mr Allard joined around 350 people for a “Je suis Charlie” show of solidarity in Aberdeen on Sunday.

The event, which coincided with similar demonstrations across Europe, was organised by Julie Tchao on behalf of French community group Frogs in Aberdeen.

Hundreds of North East residents joined those in the French community to show support for the people affected by the attacks in Paris.

At Parliament Mr Allard also lodged a motion to give fellow MSPs an opportunity to pay their respects and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland stands “shoulder to shoulder” with France in the wake of the deadly attacks.

Born in Dijon, France, but now residing in Westhill, aberdeenshire, Christian Allard MSP said:

“That so many North East residents have come together to show solidarity with France is fantastic.

“I would like to thank those in Aberdeen’s French community that organised this event – many I spoke to were grateful to have the opportunity to show their support for the people of France.

“The tragic events in Paris have generated an instant response of solidarity across the world – and I would like to extend my thanks to all those who came out at the weekend.”

“Je suis Charlie”, French for “I am charlie”, is a slogan adopted by supporters of free speech and freedom of expression after the 7 January 2015 massacre in which 12 people were killed at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

It identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and by extension, a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed threats.

Within two days of the attack, the slogan had become one of the most popular news hashtags in Twitter history.